All Because They Tried to Kill Me
by SeveruSeprentine
Summary: RLSS, SLASH you no likey, you no lookey, you no flamey, we all happy!. Umm... after Severus discovers Remus is a werwolf, can the two escape their difference and the Marauders long enough to build something lasting? Marauder Era. Better summary inside.
1. Chapter 1

**All Because They Tried to Kill Me

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**Summary:** SS/RL. After James saves Severus from being killed by Remus-wolf, Severus, far from being freaked out and only nettling the Gryffindor more, goes to talk to him. A rather comical romance (and mayhem) ensues. Sixth Year (I couldn't remember what year it happened in so I just picked one.) Post-HBP (oho, Langlock and Muffliato! You can see where this is going…)

WARNING: Besides the BOYslash, this involves some OOCness because wizards have laptop computers (although I think it makes sense; wizards would obviously have the power to be much more technologically advanced than Muggles; why shouldn't they have been able to make laptops twenty-thirty years before we did?). Just a warning. I try to make my characters as close to canon as I can within the parameters of my story, and I hope that no one thinks I do a bad job of it.

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**Chapter 1**

Friday October 9th, 1974

"Severus," said Professor Dumbledore sternly over his half moon spectacles. "I cannot impress upon you the seriousness of what you have witnessed. If this had by chance…"

The fifteen year old boy (in sixth year, but with a January birthday) sitting in front of him was looking at him insolently out of one glittering black eye; the other was hidden, along with most of that side of his pale and rather acne-beleaguered face, by a curtain of lank black hair. He knew very well how serious this was; one of the Gryffindor Golden Boys was a _werewolf_, and it was Remus Lupin, no less! He had never expected that, had never guessed that the amber eyes and monthly sicknesses were anything more than the boy's odd health problems.

Not to mention that James Potter had saved his life from said werewolf, something that he rather felt like never mentioning to anybody. If that got out… well, things would certainly get interesting in Slytherin, but he had a feeling it wouldn't be in his favor. If you were a student in Slytherin house being in favor mattered far more than anything else.

Dumbledore apparently hadn't noticed his charge's wandering thoughts, because he hadn't paused. "…forbidden to tell anyone what you have seen, do you understand?"

Severus' single visible eye snapped up to meet the bright blue ones of the Headmaster in an incredulous gaze. Forbidden to tell anyone? What did Dumbledore think he was, stupid? If he told everyone it would only bring attention to the fact that he, Severus Snape, had trusted Sirius Black, nearly been killed by one of the mildest students in the bloody school, and been saved by his archenemy. He had no wish to tell anyone.

Anyway, this revelation had set him thinking. Thinking about a boy he normally only just glanced at in the corridors, recognizing on a visual scale but not on a mental one. It had – dare he say it? – piqued his curiosity.

But he didn't say any of this. Instead he muttered his usual quiet, "Yes, Professor," in a voice that was only just beginning to level out into the velvety baritone he would have as an adult. He picked up his bag and stood to leave.

"Oh, and Severus," Dumbledore said as the Slytherin neared the door. _Bloody man has a habit of always pulling you back in just when you think you're free of him_, Severus muttered in his head as he turned.

"Yes, sir?"

"Don't be too harsh on Remus, when you speak to him." And, eyes twinkling like Christmas tree lights, Dumbledore inclined his head to show that he was done and popped a lemon drop into his mouth.

_As if he could hear my thoughts… could sense that I had some intention of speaking to him_, Severus thought. How had Dumbledore known? Dumbledore had instilled in Severus what the boy himself would later plant in the minds of most of his students: _The freaky bugger can read minds!

* * *

_

Severus would admit it only to himself: he did want to speak to Remus Lupin, odd as it sounded. What Lucius Malfoy would think of all this he wouldn't even allow himself to guess. Luckily, he had at least a period and a half to talk himself out of it.

Still…

He couldn't help but wonder: had the werewolf known what Sirius and James had planned, or had he been oblivious? What must it be like, living and knowing that you will be an outcast the moment someone lets slip your secret? Severus already knew what it felt like to be shunned; was that what Lupin dreaded first thing in the morning every day he woke up?

For quite possibly the first time in his life, Severus Snape was admitting to himself that he might actually be feeling compassion. Sickening. He might as well just switch into Hufflepuff now; they still had half a year left. He shook his head as he ascended the stairs into the entrance hall, passing a gaggle of whispering students, probably obsessed with the latest news of the now-infamous Deatheaters cult. Honestly, was that all anyone ever cared about anymore? There were so many other things much more interesting than who was dying this week.

* * *

He'd already missed half of Herbology, one of the only subjects he seemed to be having trouble with. Oh, the theory was fine, easy to a fault, but when confronted with giant writhing Blood-Roses or Venomous Tentaculi nothing he had learned seemed in any way helpful. What was the point of knowing that a Blood-Rose could suck you dry in barely three minutes when that was what you were trying to avoid in the first place? It was like knowing that a group of piranhas could de-flesh a cow in less than a minute. He wasn't a cow. When faced with a swarm of hungry mini-sharks, what good would it do him to know how fast they could de-flesh, of all the many varieties of fauna, a cow?

Very luckily it was only the theory that mattered with Potions, which he'd decided to teach because his copy of 'Advanced Potion Making' was so unsophisticated and outdated that he had actually taken to scribbling the correct way to do things in the margins, as well as little tricks he'd discovered on his own and some jinxes and spells invented in his free time. The qualifications for a teaching post were very low (only an Outstanding in the field you wish to teach, as well as at least a year of University study), so he shouldn't have really cared about passing this class, but… well… sue him for being a perfectionist.

Luckily, Remus Lupin was not taking this class.

Remus Lupin was, in fact, in the second floor corridor Charms Classroom, practicing a color-changing charm on his Charms partner, Sirius Black.

"Shame Prongs didn't just let you kill the little bastard," the dark haired Gryffindor said in a bored voice for what had to be the seventh or eighth time, absently fiddling with his hair, which Remus was at the moment making cycle from red to orange to black to purple over and over until he had the spell down.

James, only a desk away and practicing with Lily Evans, who couldn't find a better partner and so had to content herself with James (this was before they started dating), cried "What? And leave poor Moony with the worst case of indigestion this world has yet seen? I think not, Padfoot!"

Sirius inclined his head toward James. "Good point, Prongs. Moony would have been sick if he'd eaten _that._" He made a face even as he started working on turning Remus' school robes yellow.

Remus remained silent in his now bile-yellow robes (Sirius was having a bit of trouble with getting the right wrist movement; he tended to over-exaggerate it and so the color always came out too fruity).

Ever since he'd been let out of the infirmary this morning Remus had been dreading that Snape would reveal his secret to the Slytherins, or, even worse, the whole school. He was terrified of next period; not only was it Advanced Potions, which he'd always had trouble in because of his over-sensitive nose (werewolf senses, natch), but none of the other Marauders had it with him. In fact, he was the only Gryffindor in that class. He wasn't so sure if he could stand being totally alone in a room with only Slughorn, Snape, a few Slytherins, two Ravenclaws and one paranoid Hufflepuff by the name of Drake McMorrie for company.

* * *

Remus was not to be disappointed; this lesson was going to be just as much of a trial as he had feared: not only was it double Advanced Potions, but they were making Amortentia. He found his usual seat in the back on the far left (farthest away from all of the other potions and their makers, thus at least slightly dulling the barrage of scents on his poor nose). He began to set up his cauldron, getting out the ingredients in the long list written on the board in Professor Slughorn's looping handwriting.

A small cough distracted him. No human would have heard it, but his ears were that sensitive. For this reason he'd always spoken quietly and detested arguments; too much shouting, and too much pain in his aching ear drums. He shook his head, figuring the cough wasn't meant for him, and went back to rooting through his bag trying to find a few rose petals.

"They're better when they're fresh," someone said quietly from next to him. Remus started and dropped his bag. Hurriedly he picked it up and set it on the desk, then whipped around to see who had spoken, blushing slightly.

Snape regarded him with a sphinx-like expression from his one visible black eye. Remus had the distinct impression the taller boy was sizing him up, as though to check whether he posed any sort of threat. Apparently, whatever he had been debating in his mind was cleared up a moment later when he said,

"May I sit here?" Snape indicated the seat next to Remus, who merely shrugged a shaky affirmative and tried to calm himself. This had to be it. Snape was going to blackmail him, was going to tell everyone his secret… it was all over.

But Snape didn't say anything at all; rather, he began to set up his cauldron, waving his wand absently at his kit of ingredients so that the ones he needed assembled themselves in neat little rows on the desk. Then he reached inside his bag and took out a rose, blood red and still slightly dewy as though it had just been picked.

Remus stared. "The recipe only calls for three petals you know…"

"They're better when they're fresh," Snape repeated vaguely, not even glancing at Remus but rather pulling a few petals from the rose and setting it down the desk, using his wand to light the burner under his cauldron so that the water started bubbling.

Remus suddenly realized that he hadn't started his own potion boiling and quickly tapped on the burner to light it.

"Right!" said Professor Slughorn jovially, bounding into the room with a box of crystallized pineapple tucked under one fleshy arm. "As most of you have noticed, today we are making Amortentia. I see Mr. Snape and Mr. Lupin have already set out their ingredients and got the water boiling; that's five points each to Gryffindor and Slytherin. Now, who can tell me the effects of Amortentia?"

Almost before he had finished speaking Remus saw Snape's hand shoot upwards next to him and he almost actually felt a soft gust of air from the sudden movement.

Slughorn inclined his head. "Yes?"

"Amortentia is the most powerful Love Potion existing today, created in 1924 by Alfred Morathi. It is the closest simulation of love that one can experience through magic, and causes the drinker to fall into an almost destructive obsession regarding the intended love object. Eventually it wears off, but sometimes it has been known to actually cause two people to truly fall in love once the effects are gone," Snape said, speaking very quickly and with his hand still straight up in the air.

Slughorn beamed. "Quite right; five points to Slytherin. Nothing can create love, though the effects may cause the drinker and the person who made them drink to form a certain sort of bond… this potion is quite possibly one of the most dangerous we'll make this year. There is almost nothing more devastating than obsessive love." He then turned to look around the room. "Can anyone tell me how one can recognize Amortentia?"

To everyone's surprise, McMorrie's hand went up along with Snape's.

Drake McMorrie was like a Marauder-era incarnation of Neville Longbottom; he tended to ruin any potion he was in the room with and seemed jinxed to melt every cauldron given to him. He was wonderful with theory, but he was so skittish and paranoid that he simply _couldn't_ bring himself to concoct the potions correctly. Who knows who would find them and use them against him? What if he burned himself and died? What if…???

But his hand was up. Even Slughorn looked surprised as he said, "Yes, Mr. McMorrie?"

"Amortentia," McMorrie said shakily as though willing himself to keep going with every word, "can be… recognized… by its… mother-of-pearl sheen and distinctive light golden color… Also, Amortentia smells… like things that we love, and… smells different for every person."

Remus heard Snape snort quietly from next to him, and turned to look at him with an it's-better-than-he's-done-all-year-so-what's-to-snort-at sort of look on his face.

"He's forgotten the spiral steam," Snape said by way of explanation, his eyes focused on Slughorn, who had just given McMorrie five points, rather than on Remus.

"Right then," said Slughorn, "for this first period we'll be starting the potion. Get to the halfway point by the end, and we'll let them simmer through the fifteen minute break and then finish their first stage next period. Carry on."

Remus bent over his book and read the first instruction.

_Set water to a boil._

Good; he'd done that already. Line two, then.

_Add a third of a cup of red wine; let stew for a minute._

_Crap; where does one find wine in places like this?_ Remus thought.

"You're a wizard, Lupin," Snape hissed at him as he bent over the book, his lank hair flopping onto the table and all but covering the pages, "Just get a cup of water and do a simple transfiguration." He paused for a moment, and then said quietly, "By the way, it actually works better with champagne."

Remus stared at him. Little did the Gryffindor know it, but he was the first person to fall prey to Snape's uncanny ability to know exactly what someone was thinking.

Snape made no move to acknowledge that he was being watched, but rather took out a beaker and began to fill it with a jet of moderately warm water from the tip of his wand. Remus shook his head and did the same, though he made sure to transfigure his water into red wine rather than the yellow, bubbly liquid Snape used. The boy was a genius in Potions, but Remus, as a Marauder and under the odd circumstances he and Snape currently faced, couldn't trust him.

After a minute of letting the wine boil with the water, Remus looked at the next line.

_Add three rose petals, a pinch of cinnamon, and as much blood as you deem necessary._

Blood?! What sort of love potion was this?

"All love potions have blood in them. It's a mandatory ingredient." This time Remus just ignored the hissed correction and dropped the three rose petals he'd finally dug up at the bottom of his kit into his cauldron, closely followed by the cinnamon. The potion fizzed and blazed bright pink for a moment before settling into a deep fruity cherry color. Almost instantly the smells of wine and roses and cinnamon hit his nose; the combination was not unpleasant, but was so overwhelming that he had to stop for moment to regain his balance, as it had made him dizzy.

Snape's potion, he noticed, had stayed bright pink. He checked the book. Sure enough, that was the exact color it described. "Why…?"

"I've told you three times now, the petals are better fresh." Remus, who by now was getting slightly annoyed with Snape's rather critical commentary, turned to look at him. Snape, however, didn't meet his gaze but rather held his left hand over his cauldron, and knife in his right. Delicately he cut a thin line across his palm. Instantly blood began to well out of the cut, hitting the boiling water with a soft _hiss_ and making the potion froth and go a bloody scarlet.

"… four, five," Snape said, as though he'd been counting in his head and tapped his palm with his wand to heal it. Then he seemed to notice Remus' rather frightened stare and turned to look at him for the first time. Remus could have sworn a small, rather evil smile played across his face for just a moment as he said, "That's better fresh as well. You had better add yours or the other ingredients will have stewed too long."

Remus hurriedly uncorked the bottle of blood in his kit and poured about half of it in, recoiling at the stale, salty scent. Snape said nothing, but rather turned back to his own potion and began to mince a root that squirmed in his grasp and squeaked madly for a moment until he firmly chopped it in half.

The two of them worked for about forty minutes in their own little spheres of consciousness. Remus' mind was on overdrive. What was going on here? Snape was being almost personable, almost – dare he say it? – _helpful_ (in a rather Slytherin manner, of course). Was this all just a ploy; would it all come crashing down soon enough when the whole school knew his secret? What was happening here?

He stopped himself adding the wrong ingredient just in time; he put down the asphodel and carefully shredded the belladonna before sprinkling it over the top of his potion. The bubbling liquid changed its color from the slightly washed out red it had been since he'd added the blood to a rather bile colored green, and steam began to issue from it, curling in not-quite-symmetrical spirals toward the ceiling. It was just about this time that Slughorn called,

"The bell for break is going to ring any moment; the book says to let them simmer for twenty-six minutes, so you can just talk until it's time to come back to them." He popped a piece of pineapple into his mouth and went back to flipping through his copy of the Daily Prophet.

Everyone began to talk amongst themselves or read; or, in McMorrie's case, huddle beneath the desk whispering something about a conspiracy and a duck. Snape, meanwhile, had pulled out a book and was hunched over reading it, his hair falling around his face like a curtain. His potion was now a deep lime color, the spirals of steam making perfect circles as they curled toward the ceiling. Remus, unsure of what to do, pulled out a book as well and tried to read it. The words swam in front of his eyes, though, and the sharp acidic smell that the potions always developed stung his senses until he had to blink to keep his amber eyes from watering. Finally he shut the book and just looked at the wall in defeat.

"So I was right," Snape said suddenly, closing his book and looking up at Remus, who started at the sudden words and turned.

"Right about what?" the young werewolf asked cautiously. Best to be guarded; this could go either way.

"About the reason someone of your obviously superior intellect cannot seem to produce a satisfactory potion," Snape said simply, his expression unfathomable. "The very smell of it puts you off completely until you're struggling to even see straight. But then, because of what you are… your senses are obviously so much stronger than that of a normal human…"

Remus blinked, confused. Snape seemed so calm about this, not at all calculating or gloating.

Seeing his look, Snape said quietly, "Lupin, I know what it's like to be ridiculed for something I cannot change. It's a horrible feeling, and I'm sorry for the part I had in foisting it on you."

Remus blinked again, his lips slightly parted in shock. Severus Snape. Apologizing. To him. This was quite possibly the weirdest Potions lesson Remus had ever attended.

"There. I said it. Lucius Malfoy and his 'morals of Slytherin conduct' be damned; I said it. Laugh if you must," Snape said almost to himself, opening his book again, his hair falling in about his face. There was something of the unruly child in his manner; almost as though it was a great effort to say the words. He meant it, Remus could tell, but he wasn't going to let Remus know that if he could help it. Classic Slytherin.

"Look, Snape," Remus said earnestly, "I'm not laughing."

That single eye glared for a moment at the Gryffindor from between the curtains of hair and then snapped back to stare with a surly expression at the book. There was a note of sarcasm in his voice when he muttered, "What, then? Too scared to laugh, too afraid that I'm just doing this to gain your trust so I can blackmail you? I'm sure Potter's already planted that in your head. I'm not asking for your friendship. I'm just saying that I know what you're feeling to some degree. That's all."

Remus was just about to reply when the bell rang. Slughorn called,

"That's time, everyone! Back to your potions; I'll be coming through in just a moment to check your progress while you let them stew for another ten minutes." There was a bit of crystallized pineapple clinging to his walrus mustache.

Remus sighed angrily and then bent over so that his face was hidden from Slughorn's view behind his cauldron.

"And what if I don't _care_ what James says?" he hissed. "What if I know that you're not like they say you are, that you're not like you seem to think you are? Do you know how far my senses can penetrate? Just from your scent I can tell that you're bitter; the air around you always makes me sad. You detest human company and prefer to be alone and occupied with something complicated. You loathe yourself. You feel like no matter what you do everyone still hates you. You think that you're ugly, that everything you touch becomes similarly affected. You distance yourself from everyone so that you can't hurt them, even though you're longing for some sort of human contact. In effect, you feel that you are completely and utterly imperfect and that I shouldn't care about you one way or the other because you're not worth it. And that's all tosh."

By now Snape had abandoned all pretense of reading and was instead staring at Remus, open-mouthed. He didn't look angry though; in fact, above anything else, he looked shocked. "How did you… What is that supposed to…What are you trying to say here, Lupin?"

"I'm saying," Remus said decisively, crossing his arms, "that even though I'm a Gryffindor and you're a Slytherin that doesn't mean we can't have a truce. Whether you're asking for my friendship or not, I'm giving it to you."

Snape looked like he was going to say something but at that point Slughorn was too close for talking. He gave Remus a very odd look and went back to his potion, starting to chop and mix the ginger and Venomous Tentacula tubers. Remus shook his head with an annoyed expression and started working on his own chopping.

"Now, what have we got here," Slughorn said, pausing by their table and putting his hands on his nonexistent waist as he surveyed their work. He didn't even comment on Snape's potion, now a yellowish green from the mix of chopped roots. Snape didn't make any move to ask him anything either, but rather lazily waved his wand at the spoon he'd dipped into the mixture which then began to stir the potion with perfect timing as the Slytherin went back to his book.

Remus, however, Slughorn paused by. "The rose petals and the blood weren't fresh, were they?"

Despite Slughorn's insistence, Remus wouldn't explain to him why this simple comment caused the Gryffindor to laugh so hard that he nearly fell off his chair.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Remus hadn't told the other Marauders what had happened that Potions lesson, though they had tried very hard to get him to explain, for, of course, they had been as worried as he was that Snape was going to spill his secret. But Remus knew that if he told them anything – _anything – _that had happened they would either scorn him or go and find Snape and kill him… or both.

However, the second option would probably prove harder than expected. Remus hadn't really seen Snape at all the entire past week, not even on weekends or in the free periods that the Slytherin usually spent in the library with an absurd number of books forming a sort of wall around him and filling an entire table. Occasionally they passed in the corridors, and Remus would make a move to say something, but Snape would pull his hair farther out to shadow his face and become mysteriously deaf. Remus had almost come to believe that Snape was avoiding him; he wasn't quite sure what he felt about that, though, and so didn't think on it too much.

And now it was Tuesday and time for Advanced Potions again, and Remus knew that Snape wouldn't miss it for anything. And, sure enough, he spotted the Slytherin leaning against the wall with a book, as usual, about an inch from his face. Biting his lip, because he knew he only had one chance to get Snape to talk to him simply by the element of surprise, he walked cautiously over and said,

"Hello?"

Instantly Snape's book closed with a snap and his visible eye darted up to meet Remus'. But the look he gave the Gryffindor wasn't icy and cold, as Remus remembered it; it was curious, maybe… friendly? However, Snape was unsmiling, and Remus took this as a sign that he should be guarded in what he said, so as not to upset the delicate balance that kept the two them from tearing each other's throats out like Gryffindors and Slytherins are supposed to do.

"Look, Snape, I just wanted to say that– whatever I said last lesson– look, I'm sorry if I–"

"Offended me? How is an offer of friendship to be taken as offensive, one wonders? I am not angry with you. I made you something, actually." The last sentence was very different from the first three; instead of the clipped, eloquent speech it was quiet, tacked on to the rest like a last minute addition. There was something in Snape's manner as he said it that reminded Remus forcefully of himself: shy and unsure, adding things on that weren't really meant to be heard and yet that he desperately hoped someone would.

But Remus didn't have time to comment on this, because Snape had opened his schoolbag and was rummaging through it, biting his lip as though trying to remember where he'd put whatever he had made. Then, with a small 'ah' of accomplishment, he pulled it out.

It was a small corked Erlenmeyer beaker of something that was white and milky looking. Remus cocked his head at it; it was unlike anything he'd ever seen before and, unlike any other potion, he couldn't smell it at all.

Snape smiled very slightly; so slightly that it was impossible to notice unless you had a werewolf's superior vision. "It's to dull your senses, or at the least the ones that are not vital to potion making. It lasts for one hour exactly, and it took me the entire last week to invent, so you are going to be using it whether you have misgivings or not."

Remus couldn't help it; he laughed. Then, taking the beaker from Snape and looking at it wonderingly, he said,

"You really made this? I mean, you invented this… just for me?"

Snape shrugged. "It wasn't that hard really. You just take a simple sense-enhancing potion, reverse it, make a few alterations, and you've got the basic premise. I had to make it extra-strong, however, because your senses are so much more advanced than a normal human's. If any one who is not a… is not like you are… were to drink it, they would probably lose their senses of smell and taste altogether."

"So it's just smell and taste?" said Remus as Slughorn opened the door and ushered them all inside.

"Yes. I'm sorry," Snape said, picking out a table at random and motioning for Remus to sit next to him. "I know that it stings your eyes but as yet I'm not sure how to stop that without the acids burning your eyes in the absence of the tears that flush them out. Also, it isn't really your sense of sight that is the problem, but rather your eye's sensitivity to such chemicals. If you have any suggestions…"

Remus shrugged. "Maybe we could get together and work on it… we have the same free periods except on Thursday, because you don't take N.E.W.T. Arithmancy and I don't take Relatively Advanced and Terribly Strenuous Spell Theory."

"Actually," Severus said softly, "I've decided to quit Herbology and switch into Charms; everything in Herbology that relates to my chosen career I already know and I was always abysmal at Charms anyway; I might as well try to learn now. You and I, apparently, are going to be sharing at least one more period starting this Friday."

Remus stopped for a moment, and then said seriously, "You know, I think you just did it so you'd have the resident Charms expert to help you." It was common knowledge that Remus was probably the most gifted Charms student from Gryffindor, save perhaps Lily Evans.

Snape snorted as he got out his cauldron and began to assemble the ingredients for today's potion.

"As you'll notice," Slughorn called from the front of the room, "we are making another, much simpler, love potion, one that enables the drinker to spark lust in anyone they desire. I felt that, since our Amortentia has not quite yet matured and indeed won't be ready until next lesson, it would be foolish to start yet another hard project. This should prove quite easy for you, as the very first instruction is to let the water boil for about fifteen minutes without doing anything whatsoever. Carry on!"

Remus noted that Snape had his book out but, unlike everyone else, he also had out a quill and ink.

"Why…?"

"They are there just incase I run into any lines I feel need to be changed. I have never made this before; I don't quite know how Libatius Borage has mucked up its composition just yet." Then, turning to Remus, "you might want to take that potion I made you now, before the fumes become too much for you."

"Right," Remus said, uncorking the beaker. The potion within swilled easily; it did indeed look exactly like milk. "How much?"

"The whole thing," Snape said definitively. "I have more, but I figured all I needed to bring was one dose, since double periods for this class only occur on Fridays." Seeing Remus' look of slight apprehension, he said with a wry smile, "I've invented much more complicated and potent things than this. I assure you, I know when I have created a poison rather than an antidote. It is completely safe."

Remus nodded, took a breath, and drank the entire beaker.

* * *

Severus bit his lip, watching the young werewolf apprehensively. He hadn't been able to test the potion on himself, as he usually did, and so wasn't quite sure if it worked exactly as he'd planned it to. 

For a moment the Gryffindor didn't seem to have any reaction at all, and then he blanched, doubling over. Severus halfway held out his hand, as though to steady Lupin, and then he realized what he was doing and quickly withdrew it. Best not to get to friendly with the Gryffindor just yet; go too quickly and the entire thing can be turned around and aimed at you.

Lupin shook his head and color returned to his cheeks. "For a moment I felt like I was going to be sick. Was it supposed to do that?"

"No," Severus said, aggravated. "It really is a bother that I can't test it. Here; smell this." He held out a glass of the champagne he was going to use in place of the red wine, just as he'd done last lesson.

He watched as the werewolf sniffed experimentally, and then took a sip. All of a sudden a warm look of astonishment and delight spread across his soft features. He turned to look at Severus with the air of a child who had just opened the Christmas present they've been dreaming of for months. "It's perfect! I can't smell it at all and there's no taste!" He smiled gently. "Thank you. This is… it's just amazing. No one has ever done something like this for me before. Thank you."

Severus merely nodded and threw in a noncommittal "Hmm" just for good measure. Lupin took it completely in stride, however, and began to work on his potion with renewed fervor. When the lesson was over, the only person who had a better potion than the Gryffindor did was the Slytherin sitting next to him with a very small, very secret smile hidden behind his oily curtains of hair.

* * *

The next weekend, on a rather cold and overcast Saturday, Severus left the dormitory early to go the Library before it became crowded by all the other students doing last minute homework. He tried to leave without waking anyone, but was stopped at the door as something soft and furry started to curl around his ankles. 

"No, Malefica, you can't come with me," he said softly, trying to shake off his cat. The solid black Bombay only mewed insolently and tried to sneak out of the dorm through his legs.

Severus bent and picked her up before she could get farther and set her back on his bed, where she lay, looking at him with huge copper eyes that clearly said, _Why don't you ever take me anywhere anymore, I mean I thought we had something good together, but oh no always sneaking off now, I wonder which of the other cats it is you're seeing_?

Severus laughed at the haughty expression on his cat's face; she simply turned her nose up at him and twitched her tail indifferently.

"I'll sneak you some kippers from breakfast, alright? But you know cats aren't allowed in the Library. Now be a good familiar, and please don't try to eat Donohue's toad again."

A rather aggravated 'mew' was the only reply. Severus, still chuckling, left the dorms and started to make his solitary way up towards the Library.

* * *

Upon arriving at the Library, Severus was annoyed to discover that the table that was normally his was already occupied. He had figured that at five-thirty in the morning no one else was likely to be up, much less dressed and alert enough for the studying this person obviously had planned: the entire desk was stacked with a mountain of books. 

"Oh, hello!" someone said brightly from behind him. He turned to see Remus Lupin striding towards him carrying two more large dusty tomes and was quite suddenly aware that the absence of his concealing school robes over the white shirt, trousers, and green and gray Slytherin vest made him feel rather unprotected. And so he did what any good Slytherin would do: he feigned incredulity.

"Lupin, what the–"

"I know you always come here Saturday morning," Lupin said with a small smile, depositing the books on the desk and straightening up, seemingly not noticing his ersatz companion's noncompliance to the dress code A/N: I always figured that you didn't have to wear robes over your school uniform, yes I know that they don't really wear one, in my world they do. So there. But robes aren't mandatory, just so long as everything else adheres to the dress code. Robes are mandatory for really formal occasions. "Nobody in my dorm gets up this early on a weekend, so I'm free until about noon. I figured we could work on that potion."

"Mm," Severus said noncommittally, which for him meant 'okay'. Lupin, however, looked worried.

"I didn't mean to impose or anything, I just, I figured – now is the only time we're going to have to do anything together, because once the rest of the Marauders get up I won't be able to go anywhere near you without them coming along and hanging you by your ankle or something," he finished quickly, looking the pile of books instead of at Severus.

Said boy raised his eyebrow with a lopsided smile. "Did I just hear the mild-mannered werewolf being assertive?"

Lupin looked slightly taken aback, and then grinned. "Yes. Yes, I suppose you did."

"Well, now I _can't_ refuse," Severus said sarcastically, drawing up a chair from one of the other work tables. "I'm glad I thought to bring my schoolbag." He started rummaging through it as he sat, and soon had pulled out a small black book, an equally miniature cauldron, a beaker of the white potion, a loon feather quill, and a bottle of black ink.

"You're going to have to explain the whole thing to me from the beginning, because I doubt I'll understand it if we start in the middle," Lupin prompted.

"Right…" Severus said slowly. Then, with an expression as though a light switch had just been thrown on behind his eyes, he picked up the black book and flipped through it, then lay it out on the table so that Lupin could see. "This is everything that went into it, starting at the beginning –"

"What's that?" Lupin interrupted, leaning across to point at something scribbled in the corner.

"That? Oh, that's just a spell I made up in my spare time. It glues the person's tongue to the roof of their mouth and is _highly_ amusing. I'm actually thinking of using it on Potter when I next see him; as you can see, I've written that as a little reminder here."

Lupin was looking at him disapprovingly. Seeing the look and interpreting it for what it was, Severus said quietly, "Obviously you and I have very different opinions of James Potter. I doubt brining it up will cause anything but confrontation, however. I suggest we simply let it be, the both of us. This is after all a truce."

Lupin stared at him for a moment, and then nodded with a smile and motioned for Severus to continue explaining the potion to him.

* * *

"So…" Remus said thoughtfully about fifteen minutes later when he finally figured he understood the potion nearly as well as Snape did, "what we need is some way to make my eyes non-reactive to the acids…?" 

Snape shook his head. "No. Then the chemicals would burn your eyes, because your eyes wouldn't recognize the need to flush them out. No, what we need is some way to make your eyes repel them altogether…" He looked at Remus quickly. "Maybe we don't even need to remake the potion… have you perhaps tried an Impervious charm?"

Remus shook his head ion turn. "I have, and it's a very unpleasant experience; it dried my eyes out entirely. The Impervious charm only works on water."

"So we'd have to either change the makeup of the charm…"

"…or figure out someway to work its equivalent into the potion," Remus finished.

The two them looked quickly at one another, and then looked away.

"That was very…"

"Anomalous." This time it was Snape who ended Remus' sentence. He blinked hard, and then looked at Remus, who had a similarly confused expression on his face.

"We're finishing each other's sentences," the young werewolf stated quickly, almost trying to finish the sentence before Snape could. The Slytherin nodded, looking a little nonplussed.

"I suppose I'm so unused to being around someone whose level of articulacy matches my own that I keep forgetting that I don't need to stop and try to reword my sentences to be less eloquent," Snape said thoughtfully. "And since your mental speed matches my own you naturally don't like pauses where you feel they aren't needed. You and I, if I am guessing correctly, are simply filling in the gaps in each other's sentences because our mental agility does not allow for those gaps."

Remus nodded slowly, and then smiled yet again. "It's rather nice to finally have a friend who speaks my language." Snape turned to look at him quickly, and Remus, slightly misreading the expression to mean 'language?' instead of 'friend?', elaborated: "Well, I'm always with James, and of course he only talks Lily-Quidditch talk, and Sirius speaks Girls-Dating-Hilarity, and Peter hardly speaks at all and when he does it's usually small squeaks. They're lovely, they really are, but not one of them is intellectual when you want them to be. Oh, sure, James and Sirius are the smartest Gryffindors in our year, but only when they're actually in the examination rooms."

Snape continued to look at him with a slightly puzzled expression on his face, and then he shook himself and said, "So. Back to our actual purpose. I find it much easier to change the makeup of spells than potions. Do you think you could give me a few moments?"

Remus nodded. Snape, without anymore prompting, put the potion and small cauldron back into his bag and instead pulled out something thin and rectangular, made of a hard black plastic-like substance.

"It's a laptop computer," Snape explained, flipping up the top and tapping the keyboard to start it. "Muggles won't have these for another twenty, thirty years; they are immensely slowed down by the absence of magic and anyway they were always slightly behind us where inventions are concerned. Wizards, however…" he said as he typed in the password, "… if they wire them correctly and incase the inner workings in a titanium-diamond alloy, can make and use these little beauties just about anywhere. I can even access the Ethernet with this." He looked genuinely smug about it.

Remus stared. He'd heard about laptops, but never actually seen one. "And how does this help us change the spell?"

"I," Snape said, pulling up a window, "have a program based off of the simplest Arithmancy that allows you to freely change the components of spells and see their outcomes without actually testing them. However, since you will be using the spell, not me, you will need to create an account. Fill this out, if you would."

He pushed the computer over to Remus, who looked down at the window on the screen. "How do I… put stuff in?" he asked slowly, blushing. Snape laughed, catching Remus totally off guard.

"Here, I'll type it. I forgot; when in the absence of a keyboard, one cannot easily learn to type. I need your name, age, birthday date and time both, Astrological sign, wand length, core, and wood type, and your height and weight."

"Umm…" Remus said, trying to remember all of that. "Remus Joseph Lupin, 16, September 21st at 4:27 am, Virgo, 12 and 2/3 inches, unicorn hair, willow, five foot 6 inches, 114 pounds 9 ounces," he said all in one breath, ticking them off on his fingers. "Is that it?"

"No," Snape said, still typing furiously. "Now I have to bring up the file for the spell… that's it… and… get to the bit that indicates what the spell makes one impervious to…" He was biting his lip, his lank hair flopping in his face and onto the keyboard.

Remus looked around while his companion was occupied and was surprised to find that the windows, which had been black when they had started, where now beginning to turn blue and pink and gold. The sun was rising. He stood without giving any explanation and walked over to the window, leaning on the sill and watching as, slowly, the sky grew lighter and lighter and then, like a flower suddenly bursting into bloom, that single sliver of molten gold burst over the treetops of the Forbidden Forest.

Remus smiled. He'd always had a thing for sunrises; sentimental, one would call it. But nevertheless, love them he did.

"Alright, Lupin, I think I've got it," Snape said, turning from the screen of the computer for a moment to beckon Remus over. "Try this," he said, pointing to a small window which only said,

'_Impervious._ Emphasis on second syllable, flick wand sharply to the left after saying the incantation. While saying, point wand at intended object.'

"Are you quite certain this is going to work?" Remus asked apprehensively, taking out his wand.

* * *

Severus nodded. "Nearly completely positive." 

Lupin took a deep breath and, pointing his wand straight between his eyes, he said, "_Impervious_," and then gave his wand a sharp flick to the left. For a moment it looked as though he were, yet again, going to be sick, but then the color returned to his cheeks and he looked apprehensively at Severus.

"I don't think anything's wrong…" he said slowly. "How can we test if it worked, though?"

"We're simply going to have to wait until Potions next Tuesday," Severus said, very glad that all the Gryffindor could see of his face was the half not covered by his hair, as he was smiling again. _Very_ undignified behavior for a Slytherin of his status. The Half-Blood Prince does not _smile_. He'd even laughed; honestly, there had to be something weird going on.

"That long?" Lupin whined almost endearingly.

"You know quite well how Madame Pince is likely to react if we took out some chemicals near her precious books. Speaking of, what _are_ all these?" Severus asked, indicating the mountain of books Lupin had coated the table with.

"Everything on Werewolves, Potions, and Theory I could find," Lupin said with a hint of a blush. "I figured we might need them."

"You don't mind if I…?" the Slytherin said vaguely, gesturing in their general direction.

"Not at all," Lupin said quickly. Then he asked, "Would you mind if I… if I had a look at your computer? I've never been around something that… expensive. My family's rather poor, you see and we… um… we don't get much stuff like that." He was blushing furiously.

"But of course," Severus said, pushing the computer over to where Lupin was sitting. "To move the pointer, just put your finger here and move it… see?" He nearly smiled again at the look of childish delight on Lupin's face when it did indeed do just that; luckily, he could hide it behind his hair until the urge had passed. "However, you must promise to be careful. This is a prototype my mother's having me test for her."

"Oh really?" Lupin said skeptically, now curiously pressing random keys on the keyboard. "Your Mum's a tech witch?"

"Yes," said Severus, now thumbing through one of the books on werewolves (_Lupus Lycanthrocpica_: _A Guide to Everything Werewolf)_. "It gets her out of the house anyway, away from my father." He chose to ignore Lupin's curious look and instead pulled the book up over his face to indicate that the subject was closed; he wasn't sure how much he wanted to tell Lupin about his home life just yet. As he returned to the book he noticed, with a certain pang unlike guilt, that most of the pictures had mustaches or derogatory language written over them. Truly, wizard-kind's treatment of werewolves had never been all that trusting or welcoming, but to think that even those who were underage were doing it, without even realizing the magnitude of what it meant to those it was aimed at… he tried not to think that not too long ago he'd been doing the exact same thing.

They were silent for a long while, until the sun was high in the windows. The only noise was the rustling of the pages of Severus' book or the occasional _tap-tap-tap_ of Lupin's fingers on the keyboard (he was only using one or two at a time, as many people who cannot type do, looking around for a letter or number before deliberately pressing down on it). Occasionally he would lean over and ask Severus something about some program or another, and now was immersed in a game of Tetris that had been going for nearly an hour. It was amazing how fast he could press those buttons if he wanted to.

* * *

Near about eleven in the morning Lupin said, "I think James and Sirius should be up by now, and anyway I'm hungry, and it's high time for brunch." He stood, and then picked up three or four of the books and started to put them away, but Severus stopped him. 

"Put them down and I'll show you another highly useful spell I made up in Potions."

Lupin did so, looking a little anticipatory. Clearly he was starting to like these little shows, these insights into things it was obvious nobody else knew.

"_Restituo!_" Instantly the books gathered themselves up and zoomed away to their appropriate shelves, organizing themselves quickly and neatly as though they'd never been moved. Severus smirked behind his hair. "Literally, in Latin, 'put back, restore'. That one wasn't particularly complex."

"You have to teach me all of these sometime," Lupin said. "They're really good." He smiled at Severus, just as he always did, his eyes crinkling slightly at the corners and his mouth widening, though not opening (Severus supposed this was the hide the obvious signs of lycanthopically sharp eyeteeth).

Severus looked away a little quicker than was probably polite, but there was something in that smile that had prompted a light, _sugary_ sensation in his stomach and it had frightened him. He moved his bag onto the table, where before it couldn't have rested because of all the books. "_You_ may leave. I prefer to stay here; it is somewhere I know that Potter and Black would never willingly come and so here at least I find myself relatively safe. Good day to you."

Lupin blinked, then shrugged and turned to leave.

Severus wasn't quite sure what had caused this abrupt change in his mood. Only moments before he'd been happy, even slightly proud. And now he'd sunk back into his usual gloomy and cynical depression. What had caused the sudden turnaround? Had it been that weird, warm feeling Lupin's smile had given him? He shook his raven hair in farther around his face and clicked the small I with a red phoenix behind it that symbolized the Ethernet on his desktop; morbidravenphennet.wiz hadn't checked his messages in far too long.

He didn't actually _have_ and messages, save for one from his cousin Onine, who was currently in Venice for University.

Onine Prince was very much like her cousin; that is, she was tall and lanky, with inky black hair and more nose than she knew what do with. She was also a genius in the field of fashion design, something that she reminded her 'widdle Sevvykins' of in every ethermail she sent him. She had a rather evil sense of humor, and her self-declared personal quote was 'Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you walk into an open sewer and die.' (Actual credit for that quote goes to Mel Brooks. Thanks, Mel!)

He read through her letter quickly, and then paused, his eyes widening as they flickered across the line,

'_So how's the werewolf doing? I suppose it must annoy you, having to clean his fur out of your bed…'_

_Mental note to self_, he thought, still slightly nonplussed. _Remind Onine that Lupin is not my boyfriend. _He read through the rest of the letter quickly, but there was no more mention of Lupin or any allusions to a relationship that thankfully didn't exist.

* * *


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

While Severus remained in the Library, Remus descended the spiraling staircases and made his way to the Great Hall.

"Oi, Moony!" Sirius shouted through a mouthful of bacon. "Where've you been? In the Library _again_?"

Remus nodded and sat down next to James, who was currently staring fixedly down the table and hoping to catch sight of Lily Evans' bright red hair. Without another word he started eating, piling toast and eggs onto his plate. But in the back of his mind, he was really repeating over and over,

Impervious_. Emphasis on second syllable, flick wand sharply to the left after saying the incantation. While saying, point wand at intended object. _

Now he just hoped to god it worked.

* * *

Tuesday came much too quickly for Remus. The more and more he hoped the spell would work, the less he was actually convinced it would, until he was sick with worrying and had to bury his nose in a book to shut it off.

The morning routine in Gryffindor tower had a rather rigid schedule, and everyone in Remus's dorm was expected to adhere to it. James, Sirius, Peter, and the only non-Marauder (Frank Longbottom) insisted on it.

At exactly six o' clock Remus's alarm went off; this was the cue to start the day. Sirius complained loudly that he was going to fall asleep in Transfiguration if Moony didn't shut it the hell up, James woke up and started shouting at Sirius, which woke the other two up. Sirius usually muttered some morose comment along the lines of, 'Now that I'm up I might as well dressed, thanks to Moony' and would proceed to lounge about on his bed for thirty minutes watching the others dress and daydreaming about whatever girl had his fancy at the moment. James would throw a pillow at Sirius and call him lazy, Remus would try to intervene and be cut off, and Sirius, half in his pajamas and half in… well… half naked really… would jump on James and get into a major catfight. Peter would nearly wet himself with excitement, and Frank and Remus would stand in the corner and shake their heads. Finally everyone would calm down enough to go to breakfast and manage to choke down some toast before James spotted Lily Evans and spent the entire rest of the meal trying to get her to look at him, to which Sirius protested quite loudly, which of course stopped him eating the rest of his own meal and put Remus completely off his. Peter simply did whatever the other three were doing at the time.

"But not today," Remus thought, stifling his alarm clock with his pillow before it could wake the still comatose Sirius. Today, Remus was going to slip out of the dorm and get to the Potions classroom early so that he'd be first in. He dressed quickly and silently, gathered up his things, and left, setting his alarm to go off in a few minutes: it wouldn't do for Sirius and James to miss their morning classes because of him.

He slipped quickly out of the Common Room and made his solitary way down to the Great Hall. He wouldn't get any mail today, being too early, but he figured he could still get a few pieces of toast and maybe a croissant (Remus had always loved croissants).

The Great Hall was still filled with newly-minted looking sunlight when he walked in, and was completely deserted as far as he could tell. The tables, however, were already laden with food for the early risers, and Remus walked leisurely over to the Gryffindor table to have some breakfast.

He was disappointed to find that there weren't any croissants today, but cheered up a bit when he managed to get his hands on the strawberry jam (his favorite and apparently everyone else's, as it was usually gone by the time he had managed to get the other three Marauders downstairs to the breakfast tables). He had just sat down to his breakfast and ever gotten out one of his books when he heard footsteps. He turned to the door and was surprised to see Severus Snape hurrying quickly through them, glancing back over his shoulder as though afraid of being followed. When he turned around and saw Remus he stopped short, cursed, and then kept walking, though now it was obvious he was heading toward the Gryffindor table.

"Snape?" Remus said, a little worried at this odd behavior from the usually unruffled Slytherin. "What –"

"_I'm not here_," the Slytherin hissed at him, and proceeded the duck under the table in a most un-Slytherin manner, leaving Remus completely and utterly confused. A moment later there were more footsteps, and a cool voice said,

"Snape?… oh, Lupin." It was Lucius Malfoy, the tall blonde seventh year who was the current leader of a gang of particularly violent Slytherin miscreants. "Have you seen Snape? I need to give him this." He held out a scroll tied with black ribbon. "It's from his father."

"I –" Remus broke off as he heard a low hiss of "_You tell him I'm here or allow him to give me that letter and I will jinx you so effectively that you will spend the rest of your life thinking that you're a teakettle._"Luckily Malfoy didn't hear it and Remus, getting the message, said quickly, "No, Malfoy, I haven't. Not since Potions class last Friday." Remus's keen ears picked up a sigh of relief.

Malfoy looked put out. "I wish he'd stop doing this..." He turned on his heel and left, probably intending to keep on looking and not noticing that Remus was thoroughly confused.

Remus ducked his head and looked under the table. "You're lucky he didn't think to check down here. Why was he after you with that letter?"

Snape gave him a scorching look and re-emerged on the other side of the table, looking pointedly away.

Remus stared at him. Before he had been moving too quickly for Remus to notice, but now the werewolf could see that his normally ramrod straight, if greasy, hair was disheveled. There was something blackish-purple that rose just above the collar of his robes that looked suspiciously like a bruise to Remus, and there was also something a little odd about his scent; it was overshadowed by something else, something foreign, something _painful_…

"Why –"

"You're wasting your time asking," Snape hissed at him, still looking at a point somewhere along the table. "The subject is not open for discussion, Lupin. Now or ever."

Remus took a bite of toast, chewing pensively. "But we have a truce…"

"A truce does not give you the right to pry into my personal affairs," the other said very quietly.

They were quiet for a few minutes, Snape sitting stock still looking away and Remus finishing his toast and jam and trying to work out what that foreign scent was. It was hot, painful, fearful, _unbearable_…

"My god," Remus breathed, suddenly recognizing the scent: it was a much more forceful version of the one that was always strong in the air after James and Sirius got through harassing the very boy who now sat across from him. "You've been–"

Snape stood abruptly and, grabbing his bag, stalked off before Remus could finish, leaving the Gryffindor to thoughts he'd rather not be thinking.

* * *

Severus' face was burning. Not with anger, as one would have expected, but from the tears that were currently blinding him.

"_Stupid fucking Lucius Malfoy_," he growled moodily, though the effect was a little less frightening that it normally would have been had he not being crying. He couldn't risk Lupin finding out; the werewolf's senses were too keen, his mind too sharp, not to. And so he'd had no choice but to leave.

Lupin must have noticed the distinctive scent of magic on him, and pain, Severus thought bitterly. Must have recognized that the letter had had a curse placed on it.

Severus's father had been sending him cursed letters ever since Severus had refused to submit to his father's new mania and join the Death Eaters. At first they started out as simply jinxes; Leg-Locker, Full-Body-Bind, the like. But for the past few weeks they had been getting progressively more violent. The bruise Lupin had noticed was only a few days old, the product of a curse that had nearly ripped Severus's chest open and only failed because he managed to realize what it was and perform a quick shield charm that blocked the worst of it.

Finding out that his wife and son were a witch and junior wizard had driven Tobias Snape insane. There was no other way to look at it. Now half the time he was forgetful, seemingly having in his mind reverted back to the point before he found out… but whenever he caught sight of anything magical, whenever Severus or Eileen messed up and let the careful façade of Muggle life slip in front of him, he became downright violent.

He had, in his insanity, managed to convince himself that he was a prominent pureblood wizard during these transformations. Somehow he met up with Abraxas Malfoy and Malfoy, knowing full well that Tobias was a Muggle but that his genius son wasn't, had decided to use Tobias to get Severus into the Death Eaters. It was, of course, Abraxas who had cast the curse on the letter, and Lucius, being in on it and already a Death Eater himself, was fully prepared to deliver it.

Severus, for his part, was not at all eager to receive it.

* * *

Remus anxiously watched his ersatz friend outside of Potions Class, fidgeting slightly. He knew Snape had said that the discussion was closed, but Remus simply couldn't get it off his mind. Just as he had made up his mind that he was going to broach it anyway, whether Snape liked it or not, the door to the classroom opened and Slughorn beckoned them inside.

"Oho! Come in, come in! We'll be continuing our Amortentia today!"

Mentally cursing his over-exuberant Potions teacher (and then taking it back when he remembered that Slughorn was a teacher), Remus entered the classroom.

Suddenly a horrible though struck him: after what had happened that morning between them, would Snape still sit with him, still give him his usual dose of the white potion? He knew that his friend was prone to mood swings; would he finally be the brunt of one of them?

And so he was surprised but pleased when Snape beckoned to him from the back table, on which the small beaker of white potion already sat waiting.

"Look, Snape, about this morning," Remus started determinedly, "I really –"

"Lupin, I am only going to say this once, so I suggest you listen," Snape cut him off icily. "What happens between me and my father is none of your business. You are coming dangerously close to breaking this truce. I'd rather you not, if it's not too bold to say so."

Remus deflated slightly as he uncorked the small beaker and downed the tasteless, odorless potion. Instantly it was as though a switch had been turned off inside of his head, shutting down all of his senses.

"So," Snape said conversationally as though nothing had happened, moving slightly so that Slughorn could pour his Amortentia from the Friday before last into his already heated cauldron, "are you going to try that spell? We've already proven that it won't hurt you, so there's no risk."

Remus bit his lip, raising his wand, though he had to wait until Slughorn had given him his potion as well and returned to his desk. "_Impervious_," he said quietly, flicking his wand.

They both waited for a moment.

Nothing was happening.

They waited for another moment.

Nothing was still happening.

Remus looked at Snape, who didn't meet his eyes but was instead chewing his lip pensively, as though trying to figure something out. Then, without warning, he laughed, though the moment he realized that he was doing it he stopped himself.

"It's too early for it to have any effect; there aren't any chemicals in the air yet!" He bent over to take out his book, muttering, "Merlin, I am so _stupid_ sometimes…"

"I don't think I can take more waiting," Remus grumbled, taking out his copy of Advanced Potion Making.

Severus was still chuckling sporadically to himself ten minutes later as he read a book, lazily stirring his simmering potion with a wooden spoon. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed a movement from Lupin and looked up inquiringly at the other boy.

Lupin had ladled some of his potion into a spoon and was currently holding it exceptionally close to his eyes, back and forth from the left to the right.

"Lupin, what in the name of Merlin are you doing?" Severus asked. Then, without waiting for Lupin's answer, it hit him. "You're testing the spell, aren't you?" he asked now genuinely excited. "Does it –?"

"Work?" Lupin said, a (yes, wolfish) grin spreading across his soft face. "You bet your knickers it does."

Choosing to ignore Lupin's rather undignified way of expressing the extent to which the spell performed, Severus asked, "Completely? There's no after effects, nothing?"

Lupin shook his head, at the same time adding the smallest drop of extract of rue to his potion. "Nothing at all. Once again, you've outperformed yourself."

Severus smiled, and this time he didn't try to hide it behind his hair.

* * *

Over the next three days Remus saw nothing whatsoever of his new Slytherin acquaintance, save for at mealtimes (there were only so many Snape could miss on account of studying) and the occasional one-second glance as they passed in the corridors. This secretive approach to their friendship – truce, Remus, _truce_ – suited Remus just fine; James and Sirius had been hinting that if they saw Snape anywhere near Remus they'd kill the Slytherin as a personal favor to their 'poor, poor little Moony'. They still seemed adamant that Snape was in some way going to use his knowledge of Remus' condition as blackmail or some other horrible thing, and Remus, knowing that arguing was futile, just buried himself in whatever book he had with him at the time and nodded vaguely. That was the best way to deal with James and Sirius when they were being stupid.

But on that unusually cold, blustery Friday, Remus knew that he could no longer deny the inevitable. This would be his first Charms lesson with both the Marauders and Snape together in one room, and he knew that if past experience was any example it was bound to be quite painful for all parties concerned.

He immediately noticed Snape, the only one with a silver and green tie, leaning against the wall as usual and quite removed from the group of Gryffindors, two Hufflepuffs and several Ravenclaws that were chatting animatedly near the door as they waited for Flitwick. He looked oddly shy to Remus, like the new kid in school who has no idea who anyone is and as yet has no friends.

_Well, sort of_, Remus thought with a small internal chuckle. _We're not what you'd call friends._

At that moment Snape's eyes flicked up for a just a moment and met Remus'. He gave the smallest of nods and the shadow of a half-smile, the closest thing to acknowledgement one could hope to get out of the Half Blood Prince, and then went back to staring moodily at the portrait of an old and at the moment rather comatose looking wizard across the hallway from him.

Remus was just about to say something when he saw Snape's eyes narrow at something behind him. The Slytherin's hand slid into the inside of his robes, balling around what Remus knew was his wand. The werewolf winced as he heard James shout out in the scathing voice he reserved just for Snape,

"Oi, Snivellus! Switched into Charms, have you?"

"He's probably hoping for some coolness lessons," Sirius sneered from behind his casually elegant black fringe as the two of them came up, walking past Remus to stand in front of Snape, flanking him. Though he was rather taller than both of them he still gave the impression of being very vulnerable; perhaps it was the way that the hand that wasn't around his wand handle in his pocket was shaking or the way his eyes darted uncertainly from side to side as though scouting out possible exits.

"Here's a newsflash, Snivvy, they're not going to do any good," Sirius continued. "You've got about as much coolness-potential as a three-legged donkey."

"Hey, wait a second," said James, turning to his friend with a slightly puzzled expression on his face. "I thought we'd decided that three-legged donkeys _were_ cool!"

Sirius looked thoughtful, pushing his dark brown hair out of his handsome face as he looked at the ceiling in thought. "Yeah, you're right, mate… how about… you've got as much coolness-potential as a… um…"

"Oh, honestly," Lily Evans said, rolling her eyes in exasperation. "You two self-obsessed morons are so wrapped up in figuring out how to insult him that you didn't even notice he's already in the classroom, and you're about to be late."

"Right you are, my dear sweet Lillykins," James grinned at her, which earned him a disapproving glare and a soft 'humph' of disdain before his frosty love object turned and stalked into the classroom.

Remus entered after his friends, cursing himself yet again. He had never had enough courage to stand up to James and Sirius, to tell them exactly what he thought of their bullying. That was the only thing about them he really couldn't stand, because he knew exactly what their victims felt, knew what it was like to be in the middle of a circle of people laughing at you while you're being physically and mentally abused nearly past your breaking point. And yet, he could never bring himself to tell them.

He noticed resignedly that James and Sirius pointedly picked a table near Snape, which meant they weren't done tormenting their favorite target just yet.

This was going to be a very interesting Charms lesson.

* * *

Twenty minutes later had found the room in a state of chaos hitherto unmatched by any previous Charms lesson in the history of the school. Of course. Fate in all of its vindictive wisdom had decreed that day to the be the day when the sixth-years started advanced incendiary charms, and Sirius had wasted no time in commenting loudly that Snape should probably leave the room, as he would probably 'go up in flames the moment anything gets into that oily mass he calls his hair'. This had earned him a disapproving glance from Professor Flitwick, but Remus couldn't help but notice as he glanced at Snape that the Slytherin seemed not to have noticed at all, save for the slight trembling of his hands and the unmistakable scent of rage coming from his direction. Remus had to admire that sort of control.

Once the class got into the actual hands-on practice, however, things had really started going downhill. James and Sirius, whistling and looking pointedly in the other direction, had sent a discreet _Incendi_ in Snape's direction, which said boy had blocked, causing it to hit Professor Flitwick's hat. Snape had, in retaliation, Trip-Jinxed the two Marauders just at the right time so that they fell face forward into the hard stone wall. James, jumping to his feet and forgetting all pretense, had used the _Levicorpus _spell on Snape (who thankfully had been wearing his school uniform underneath his robes this time), and Snape had responded with a rather well-pulled off _Langlock_, considering he was doing it upside-down and with his sight seriously impaired by his robes. By the time it was over the three boys (and Remus who, being a Marauder, was obligated to go with them) had an appointment with Professor McGonagall.

That was where they were now, earlier than they would have liked as Professor Flitwick had sent them there near the last twenty minutes of Charms. He had probably known McGonagall would want to chew them out thoroughly, Remus thought with an internal sigh.

"I am _disgusted _with you three," McGonagall said sternly to James, Sirius and Snape, knowing obviously that Remus hadn't had anything to do with it simply because he was Remus. She was so irate that she had even forgone her usual tradition of forcing the troublemakers to partake in a ginger-newt whether they wanted to or not. "Explain yourselves! Potter can go first."

"Mmmmph nguhh mugghhhhh! Mmguh hgggghh… mummmmph!" James said angrily, gesticulating towards his face and looking extremely furious: his tongue was still glued to the roof of his mouth.

Snape smirked. "Sorry about that, Professor," he said, though Remus had the distinct impression that he didn't mean it and had indeed left James like that just for the fun of watching him under McGonagall's stare and unable to do anything about it. "Excuse me." He pointed his wand casually at James and muttered the counter-curse. Said boy gasped, put a hand over his mouth, and then shook his head as though getting rid of a moment of dizziness.

"He attacked us, Professor," James nearly whined the moment he was sure he could speak clearly again, indicating Snape. "We were just sitting there in charms, getting perfect grades like we always do, and he –"

"Lupin, _you_ tell me," said Professor McGonagall in a tired voice, taking off her glasses to pinch the bridge of her nose.

Remus related to her everything he had seen and added at the end, "So in way… they provoked each other. It wasn't the fault of either of them individually."

"Yes, I find that's how it most often is," McGonagall said with a sigh, regarding the boys in front of her with an appraising stare. "You will each do detention tomorrow together – yes, _together_," she added as all three boys made noises of indignation and disgust. "Lupin, will you supervise them along with Mr. Filch? I have a feeling they'll need someone magical to keep them in line."

Remus nodded and got up to leave; he needed to get to Potions class.


	4. Chapter 4

Hello, my lovelies! I'm sorry update took so long, and i'm sorry that I don't have a very long chapter for you (my plan of making them all six and a half pages backfired). but I do have a good chapter nonetheless! A lot of things happen! and STUFF! And yes, I know that the dream sequences follow no punctuation or capitalization rules, that is INTENTIONAL. 

**Chapter 4**

Severus was only half listening as McGonagall explained their detention (cleaning Dungeon Eleven with Filch). Instead he sat with his fists clenched on the arms of his chair, very aggravated indeed. 

All of his work had been for nothing! He had done his best to avoid the stupid boy since Tuesday and now he'd have to spend upwards of three hours in his company! Simply put, he didn't want to spend one iota of his time with Lupin. Given the chance, he may even have skived off next period's Potions Class, had they not been finishing their Amortentia. 

His Lupin-phobia had started out simple, with that odd, sugary feeling he had first experienced in the Library with Lupin the previous Saturday. But that had not been pressing; after all, it was a very new feeling to Severus to have someone to talk to, and so he had simply put that sensation down to the whole surprise of it. 

The dreams were a bit harder to explain away. 

He had had the first one Tuesday night, after the Potions lesson when they had first tested their spell. It had been quite short and relatively harmless, but it still worried him. 

_…it was the middle of potions class, but for some reason the classes were being held in the library… light was pouring in from the many stained glass windows, lighting the floor with warm patterns and making the motes of dust dance golden in the air… slughorn was writing the day's lesson on a blackboard that had magically appeared in midair against a bookcase across from the windows, and the library desks were set up in the formation usually attributed to the potions classroom. _

…lupin, as per usual, was sitting next to him, his too-long honey-brown fringe falling delicately across his short eyelashes as he wrote in his notebook, glancing up at the board every now and again so that the light from the windows made his hair shine gold… severus found himself totally immersed in watching lupin's hand, curled so delicately around his battered pheasant quill… 

…lupin apparently noticed, because he looked up, smiling in that way he always did: eyes warm and crinkled a little at the corners, mouth only slightly open to hide his sharp eyeteeth… am I really that interesting? he asked, still smiling… severus found it impossible to meet the glowing amber orbs and so looked at lupin's hand again. with a jolt he realized it was lightly entwined with his own… 

He had been unable to shake the dream the day after. What in the world was it supposed to mean? Severus had never set much store by anything that you couldn't prove with science, but it had merited in his opinion a look-up in the Dream Oracle. 

The entry that he had found read thus: 

"Dreams involving homosexual themes may indicate that one is either a homosexual or is unsure about their own relations with the opposite sex." He had nearly put the book down then… and then just as quickly picked it back up and continued reading. This was much too pressing to be put off by simple embarrassment. 

"It is also normal for expectant fathers to have dreams of homosexual encounters." This time he threw the book across the room and did not pick it up, as though afraid it might bite him. 

Severus had deliberately avoided Lupin for the duration of classes, not wanting to embarrass himself further by remembering either the dream or the disturbing passage in the Dream Oracle. There had been a near miss in the Library, but by ducking quickly behind a shelf he was able to stay out of sight. He had been rather proud of himself when at last he was able to escape back to his dormitory: not one face-to-face Lupin encounter all day. 

But, fool that he was, he figured it was a one-time occurrence and neglected to put up a protective Occlumency barrier on his mind before falling asleep. And the next dream he found a lot more worrying… 

_…he was somewhere dark but warm and dry, sitting on the edge of what felt like a soft feather mattress… someone was holding him against their chest and lightly stroking his hair… he felt a little dazed and tired, and he vaguely realized that his entire body was aching as though recently subjected to one of his father's beatings…unconsciously he tried to pull away from the person, a little frightened from not knowing who they were, but… _

…it's okay, severus, said the person who was stroking his hair, and severus froze. gods, anyone but… 

…lupin? he asked warily, pulling back a little and searching the darkness where he thought the Lupin's head must be. A pair of glowing amber and very wolfish eyes looked back at him and he shivered almost involuntarily. 

…yes? came the totally unabashed reply without even a second's pause. 

…severus seriously debated pushing the gryffindor away and hexing him for good measure, but to his own horror he found himself instead relaxing into the werewolf's touch… the warmth felt so nice against his bruised skin… 

…see? lupin said quietly. i'll keep you safe… he pushed the curtain of waist-length black hair back from the side of severus's face that it covered, gently pressing a kiss to the slytherin's forehead, the tip of his nose, his – 

Luckily he had forced himself to wake up before Lupin's mouth could do any more damage than it had already done. His first thought upon waking up had been, 'shit'. He could under no circumstances let that happen again! If these dreams kept progressing at the rate they were currently going, he and Lupin would be married in less than a week! 

And so it was another forcedly Lupin-free day for Severus, and the best Occlumency he could work before he let himself fall asleep. 

It hadn't had any effect whatsoever, much to his dismay. You can't stop dreams that you enjoy, no matter how little you want to admit you enjoy them. 

_…he had been dropped directly into the tunnel where all of this had started… the moonlight was shining from somewhere behind him, the opening in the Willow's roots that lead back to the safety of the night outside… but his feet, almost independent of his body, carried him forward instead of back to the outside, where he wanted to be. he had to bend almost double to fit in the tight tunnel, owing to his height, but eventually it began to widen and even out… _

… after a few more minutes of walking he noticed a glow of light coming from somewhere up ahead… his forewarned mind was shouting, go back, you sodding fool! but his body wouldn't listen, carrying him relentlessly onward… 

lupin? he called cautiously, wondering if black had been lying to him… 

… a shadow leapt suddenly on the wall, gigantic, blurred with its movement… severus screamed and fell back as what he recognized instantly as a werewolf bore down on him, and he realized with a thrill of horror that there would be no potter this time to pull him to safety at the last moment, for that time had already long since passed… 

… the wolf was a little larger than a normal wolf but much more feral looking. its eyes were a glowing amber just like its human counterpart's, but they held none of the warmth. the paws were graced with cruel, curved claws and the muzzle had been viciously slashed; the blood was dripping everywhere, staining the dark, honey-colored fur… its lips were pulled back in a snarl as it halted a mere few feet from him, low growls erupting from its throat… an alpha... the mild mannered, meek little Lupin was a bloody alpha... 

…severus closed his eyes, fully prepared to die then… just make it quick, lupin, he thought, eyes clenching shut. i'm not really one for bleeding… 

…so of course he was surprised when the hard, dirt floor of the tunnel seemed to disappear from under him and the lupine growls ceased abruptly, to be replaced with… laughter? it certainly did sound like it, but it was laughter of the like that severus had never heard before… 

… cautiously opening his eyes, he saw the wolf, now sitting lazily back on its haunches in the total darkness that the tunnel had melted into and shaking with low, barking noises that were unmistakably its try at laughter. severus lay totally still, not wanted to provoke it again, and the wolf seemed to find this even funnier, for it bent its head and flicked its ears as more quick barks erupted from its open mouth… 

… abruptly the form began to change, the hair receding and becoming a little lighter, the face shortening and the structure of the body itself twisting and blurring… 

…i'm not going to hurt you, lupin said gently, a small smile curling his lips. severus noticed with a pang that the gash on his muzzled had melted into a slightly smaller but still very painful looking cut across the bridge of his nose and left cheek. he reached out before severus could stop him and took the taller boy by the hand, pulling him up into a standing position… 

… but he miscalculated. severus was tall, but he was not weighted correspondingly, and the gryffindor accidentally pulled him too far forward… their lips brushed for just a moment… 

And then he forced himself, this time a little regretfully, to wake up. Though he would never admit it to himself, he knew he had almost been enjoying that little scene, and vowed that very moment that, come hell or high water, he would not get within a ten-foot radius of the boy, so help him god. 

But now that vow would apparently have to be broken. 

"… and you are to report to Mr. Filch at eight o' clock sharp tomorrow in the Dungeons, do you understand?" 

Severus nodded at Professor McGonagall in the present, still immersed in his musings. It was automatically that he took the shortcut to the Potions classroom; couldn't have the Half Blood Prince be late to his best subject! 

Remus didn't know how he had done it, but somehow when he arrived at Slughorn's classroom Snape was already there at the usual table they now had an unspoken agreement to share. What was more, he had all of his equipment set up and his ingredients out, a beaker of Remus's potion ready on the desk, and his prominent nose already buried in a book. 

"How did you do that?" Remus asked him wonderingly as he sat down and began setting up his cauldron. 

"I'm reading, Lupin," was the vague response. 

"Yes, but –" 

"Reading." 

"Yes, but – " 

"What part of 'reading' do you not understand, wolf?" Snape asked more than a little sharply, turning a page with such force that it nearly ripped. 

Remus fell silent, hurt. 'Wolf'. Snape had called him 'wolf', had practically thrown his defect in his face. And here he was thinking that maybe, just maybe, there had been progress. Silently he took his potion, not even thanking the other boy. There was no sign from Snape had he noticed or cared. Remus administered the Impervious variation they had created as well and got to work on the last stage of his Amortentia, not speaking and not wanting to. 

A/N: I would like to thank the story 'You Give Me Heart Palpitations' for the idea of using the Dream Oracle to freak Severus out. 


End file.
